Friday, November 9, 2012

It's not from lack of culinary inspiration, because I've missed a bit of that recently and have definitely missed keeping up with all of you in the blogging world.

Instead, I've been rather under the weather since my birthday.

It's time to get real. After four years of remission from ulcerative colitis, it's back with a vengeance. It's progressed in a month more than it did in my first year of diagnosis and boy am I feeling it. After blood tests and procedures the last few weeks, I (the anti-general-medicine, hasn't-had-an-antibiotic-in-over-ten-years-girl) have been prescribed a high powered antibiotic indefinitely, prednisone indefinitely, and a high powered anti-inflammatory indefinitely. This is devastating to me. I hate the thought of being on any medication at all, let alone long term. I don't believe in stripping my intestinal flora and wreaking havoc on my entire body. I've spent a few days harumphing about because of this, but am slowly coming to terms with the fact that this is necessary for now, to hopefully avoid this problem in the future.

My goal : Get back into remission as soon as possible.

Post remission : Lifestyle change.

As much as I love traditional cooking a la Julia Child and as much as I aspire to be an ultimate baker with the knowledge of a pastry chef, I now realize it can't be through the avenue I had planned on. And for now, all of that will be on hold as I attempt to discover foods my body will actually allow me to have. I don't know what those are yet. But I do know that so many of us struggle with colitis and other digestive issues. Don't even get me started on why this is and how the process we use to get to the end result of food as we know it today is less than natural or even ok. The bottom line is that if my journey and discoveries can help anyone else come to health in the slightest, or even myself for that matter, I'll be happy.

I haven't chosen one of these yet to stick to at this point since my body is being so touchy. But when I have success with a recipe, I'll share it here.

Yesterday, I started the day with an oatmeal smoothie. These are pretty popular right now. Although I'm limiting grains and dairy, only eating fermented dairy products, this recipe fits into this category pretty well and started my day off right. I've found that room temperature or warm foods are best. Although this is a bit on the icy side, it wasn't too shocking to my insides.

About Me

Coming to you from her cozy NYC kitchen, Anna Luce is a happily married classical and baroque violinist, and mother to Zoe the Yorkie! Join her as she figures out what a healthy lifestyle is while balancing ulcerative colitis with her desire for traditional cooking and baking. Follow her on twitter @keepitluce or send her an email at arpluce@gmail.com!
*The views and advice contained within this blog are from personal experience and not to be considered certified medical instruction. Consult your healthcare provider if you have questions or concerns before making changes to your lifestyle.